The Ivory Curse
by Toshima
Summary: What if a certain recessive gene suddenly made an appearance? What happens when that gene unlocks the cursed bloodline of the Kaguya? Shikotsumyaku Naruto. Powerful/Semi-Dark Naruto. Minato bashing. Twincest.
1. How It All Began

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

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Chapter 1: How it all began

Once there was a clan of nomads that's name was feared throughout the elemental nations; the Kaguya. They were known to be a very violent, war-obsessed clan that most would refer to as barbaric. Amongst their clansmen, there were a select few that were feared above all others, even amongst their own kin. The bearers of the ivory curse; the shikotsumyaku. The shikotsumyaku was a very rare kekkei genkai that manifested from a certain recessive gene that flows in all of the Kaguya. Any other required circumstances are unknown, but both parents must possess this specific gene in order to unlock the bloodline.

The shikotsumyaku gave the possessor the strange ability to have complete control of their own skeletal structure. This allowed them to do anything from changing the density of their bones, to replicating their bones, or even manipulate them in a multitude of fashions such as forming weapons from them. This made them incredibly deadly and instilled fear into the rest of the clan. This fear drove the rest of the clan to even go so far as imprisoning them or even, in some cases, killing them. Regardless, most ended up dying shortly after unlocking the bloodline either way.

Those who were imprisoned generally died from a strange disease that manifested along with the bloodline. This was how the shikotsumyaku got its name as the ivory curse. The disease started in the bone marrow and slowly spread throughout the body through the blood. In the early stages, symptoms appeared as that of an ordinary cough. As it progressed, the coughing would worsen as the lungs filled with blood. Eventually, the individual's immune system would fail to the point where they would find it difficult to so much as go outside. Things would continue to worsen until they either died from acquiring another sickness due to their failing immune system, or they would simply drown as their lungs filled with their own blood. Because the wielders of shikotsumyaku possessed a different body structure, a cure was never found.

Eventually, the battle-loving clan attempted an all-out attack against Kirigakure and was unceremoniously wiped out. However, due to their nomadic nature, the Kaguya had "mingled" with people all across the elemental nations. Though diluted, the Kaguya blood still lives to this day.

* * *

Konohagakure; considered to be the strongest of all the ninja villages. It was here that, 5 years ago, the nine-tailed fox attacked. Along with the massive damage caused to the village itself, many shinobi lost their lives that day. Among those was one of the greatest shinobi the village had ever produced, Hiruzen Sarutobi, the third hokage. He sacrificed himself to perform a forbidden technique to summon the shinigami himself, at the cost of the user's very soul. Originally, the current hokage, Minato Namikaze, had intended to perform the seal and seal the fox into his newborn child, but the elderly Sarutobi refused to allow it.

Unfortunately, having no other options, the fox was still sealed into the newborn Namikaze. More specifically, the firstborn of a set of twins, Narumi Namikaze-Uzumaki. Minato's wife, Kushina Uzumaki, sadly, did not survive the birth of Narumi's younger twin, Naruto.

The following day, Minato announced the fate of his predecessor, as well as his daughter's status as the new jinchuuriki. Both were heralded as heroes for putting a stop to the rampaging bijuu. Over the next few days, there were memorial services held for those that gave their lives in the defense of their village and several names were added to the memorial stone to honor some of Konoha's greatest heroes.

The village recovered quite well over the last 5 years. However, all was not as it should be. Looking over the village from his office window, Minato Namikaze let out a deep sigh before there was a knock on the door.

"Enter," he called out as he sat down behind his desk. The door burst open to reveal a young blonde-haired girl with pigtails. She had the same piercing blue eyes as her father and a light sun-kissed tan. The thing that stood out the most, apart from her dreadful orange shirt, was the 3 whisker-like marks on each cheek. She panted to catch her breath as she looked at the blond kage behind his desk.

"What's the matter, Narumi-chan?" Minato asked as he walked around the desk to kneel beside his daughter with a concerned look on his face.

"It's Naruto. People were being mean to him again," the young girl answered as she began to sob. Minato sighed as he signaled to an ANBU that gave a short bow before leaving, understanding the silent command. Minato hugged his daughter and whispered comforting words to her as he waited for the ANBU to return. He didn't have to wait long before the masked ninja walked in with a small boy behind him.

"You wanted to see me, Hokage-sama?" The boy looked to be about the same age as Narumi, though that was where the similarities ended. He had pale skin, grey eyes, and shoulder-length white hair. As opposed to the bright colored outfit of Narumi, he wore a traditional grey kimono with a black obi. On his forehead were 2 scarlet dots that looked like some type of clan symbol.

"Yes, I'd like you to tell me what was going on before Bear escorted you here," Minato said as he motioned towards the bear-masked ANBU next to him.

"It was just a simple misunderstanding, Hokage-sama. If that is all, I will take my leave," Naruto answered before turning and walking toward the door.

"Just a moment, son," Minato noticed Naruto visibly stiffen before turning around and narrowing his eyes slightly. Luckily, nobody seemed to notice Minato flinch at the young boy's glare.

"I would appreciate it if you would refrain from addressing me in such a way, Hokage-sama." Naruto stated coldly. Narumi frowned as she walked up to her younger brother.

"You shouldn't talk to father like that, Naruto," Naruto gave her a blank stare for a moment as if trying to comprehend what she just said. Narumi searched his cold, grey eyes for some trace of emotion, but there was nothing there. His eyes were completely empty and devoid of any emotion.

"I'm afraid I don't understand what you mean, Namikaze-san," was Naruto's response. A light growl seemed to be coming from Narumi as she clenched her fists and grit her teeth.

"I told you not to call me that! We're family!" She yelled.

"Not anymore. My name is Naruto Kaguya now; we stopped being family the moment I was excommunicated from the Namikaze clan," Narumi and Minato both winced at hearing that. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have other things to attend to. Farewell, Hokage-sama, Namikaze-san." Naruto gave a short bow before quickly leaving the room and closing the door behind him. As soon as the door closed, Narumi started crying. Minato sighed as he motioned for the ANBU to leave the room before kneeling down to hug his daughter once again.

"Why does he hate me?" Narumi choked out between sobs as she cried into her father's chest. Minato clenched his eyes shut and held Narumi tighter.

"Shhhh he doesn't hate you, sweetie. It's daddy's fault things are the way they are. Just give him some time." Narumi nodded as she gripped her father's robes tightly. Minato could only think one thing over and over as he held her until she fell asleep.

'I'm sorry, Naruto.'

* * *

Last year, close to the time of the twins' birthday, a certain event led to the young white-haired Naruto being taken away from his home and family. Several older kids would often pick on Naruto for his unusual hair color and the strange clan markings on his forehead that clearly didn't belong to the Uzumaki or Namikaze. On this particular day, one of Naruto's frequent bullies decided to go beyond the usual name-calling and proceeded to beat him.

After several minutes, Naruto was lying on the ground groaning in pain as the boy prepared to kick him again. Before his foot made contact however, it was intercepted by something. Several of what appeared to be Naruto's ribs burst out from his side and blocked the offending limb. The boy hollered in pain as his shin made contact with the solid defense. Several nearby civilians rushed over at the pained sounds and witnessed the strange bones retreating back into the white-haired boy's side.

Some of the civilians just so happened to be on the civilian council and were quite disturbed and frightened by what they had witnessed. News that the son of their beloved hokage was some type of monster quickly spread through the village like wildfire. And, as the case usually is amongst humans, fear quickly lead to hatred.

Naruto and the other boy were taken to the hospital as members of the civilian council met to discuss what had happened. The boy that attacked Naruto only had some bruising where he made contact with the hard bone while Naruto's pale skin had large bruises appearing all over him. However, as the doctors began running tests, any signs that the boy had been attacked at all quickly began to disappear.

Once Minato was informed of the situation, he quickly made his way to the hospital. When he arrived, the doctors were in the middle of running several blood tests. Though they had no clue how it happened, they had concluded that the child clearly possessed the cursed bloodline of the extinct Kaguya clan. Hearing this, Minato immediately ordered more tests to determine if his son had acquired the fatal disease that usually came with the bloodline.

After several hours of testing, it was determined that there was no trace of any type of illness and Naruto's immune system was working at full capacity. There were debates about the reason for this. Some thought it had something to do with the Uzumaki's longevity and strong life force; others felt it was due to the exposure to the nine-tailed fox the boy received in the womb.

One thing that they were able to discover was that both Minato and Kushina possessed the recessive Kaguya gene responsible for the shikotsumyaku which allowed the boy to unlock what is known to be the strongest taijutsu bloodline ever seen.

Minato was relieved to hear that his son was okay, but knew that things weren't in the clear yet. The shikotsumyaku was feared even amongst the Kaguya so there was no predicting how the citizens of Konoha would react to this.

* * *

[Later that day in the council chambers.]

"We should kill the boy before he hurts anyone else," a member of the civilian council called out earning nods from several others.

"Now hold on a minute, the other boy was the one who had attacked. Naruto's instincts just kicked in to defend him." Tsume, head of the Inuzuka clan, defended.

"That's not the point. The boy has the ivory curse!" another civilian yelled earning more nods from the other civilian council members. Things went back and forth in a similar fashion for quite some time. Most of the clan heads thought the meeting was pointless while the civilians were out for blood. They refused to believe that a direct descendant of the barbaric Kaguya could be related to their beloved hokage. Of course, Danzo with his bloodline obsession fought tooth and nail to get the boy for himself, but nobody other than a few civilians had any intention of letting that happen.

"I propose excommunication from the Namikaze clan," Danzo advised. If he could at least get the boy away from Minato then he would have a better chance of recruiting him for his ROOT forces. Minato immediately objected, but it ended up coming to a vote…one that ruled in Danzo's favor. With a heavy sigh, Minato prepared himself to say the most difficult words he had ever spoken in his life.

"Effective immediately…Naruto Namikaze-Uzumaki is hereby stripped of his name and banished from the Namikaze clan."

* * *

When Naruto woke up in the hospital the next day, he was informed of what had happened. Minato tried to apologize repeatedly and explain things, but Naruto completely ignored him with a blank expression. Before, he had been just like his sister; full of energy and warmth. As soon as the words left Minato's mouth, it was like someone flipped a switch. Energy was replaced with lifelessness while the warmth was swallowed up by a harsh coldness.

Without a word, Naruto left the hospital and went straight to the Namikaze clan compound. When he arrived, he didn't so much as acknowledge the "welcome home" he received from Narumi as he went straight to his room. Minato asked Narumi to stay in the living room as he followed his son to his room.

When he arrived, he found Naruto packing a backpack with his belongings that he thought he would need; most of which being clothes and various scrolls. Once he had what he viewed as the essentials, he grabbed his wallet from a nearby dresser and made his way to the door that was being blocked by his father. Minato once again tried to explain things to his son, but didn't receive the answer he had hoped for.

The first words Naruto said since he had woken up in the hospital broke Minato's heart. In a flat tone devoid of any sense of emotion, he clearly stated he wanted nothing to do with their family, even going so far as to abandon the name Uzumaki. As he made his way through his childhood home, he spared one last fleeting glance to his twin sister before walking out the door, never to return.

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A/N: Hey, everybody. I wrote this one a while back and decided to finally upload it. I have several other stories that will probably be uploaded throughout the next week or so as I feel like. Let me know what you thought of this one and as always, thanks for reading.


	2. A New Start

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

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Chapter 2: A New Start

"Okay, everyone settle down," Iruka, a teacher at the ninja academy, yelled to gain the attention of the gathered students. "Now then, as you know, today is the day of the genin exams. There shall be a written test, followed by target practice, a one-on-one spar against your fellow classmates, and finally the ninjutsu portion," he explained as another man began passing out the written tests to each student.

When the man passing out the tests reached a particular seat, he leveled a glare at the white-haired boy seated there before dropping his test on the floor. It was a very childish thing to do, but he didn't care and only 2 other students seemed to take any particular notice of the action. As the man continued to pass out the papers, the white-haired boy, Naruto, picked his test up and brushed it off before placing it on the desk in front of him.

"Alright, you may begin." Receiving the signal to start, the students all began writing. The first to finish was, of course, the Nara clan heir, Shikamaru, who immediately proceeded to take a nap. The next to finish was surprisingly Naruto. Unlike the Nara, he just stared off into space waiting for the others to finish.

Once the test was finished, the man who passed out the tests, another instructor named Mizuki, escorted the class outside while Iruka stayed behind and began grading the tests. Once outside, the would-be ninja saw 5 targets along the fence roughly 10 yards away and a wooden post not far from the fence. Their test was to throw 5 kunai at the targets and 5 shuriken at the post. They would be graded based on hitting their targets as well as how close they come to the bullseye. For the shuriken, the score was based solely on hit or miss. If the shuriken didn't embed itself into the post, it didn't count.

Mizuki began calling out names one by one based on the class's seating chart. Unsurprisingly, the majority of the civilian-born students barely managed to hit any of the targets. There was only 1 student Naruto was particularly interested in seeing, knowing that the others would be a disappointment.

"Sasuke Uchiha," Mizuki called out prompting the only surviving member of the Uchiha massacre to step forward. The pre-teen had a pale complexion and eyes as black as his hair. He wore the standard outfit of the Uchiha clan with the clan symbol displayed proudly on the back. Pulling out 5 kunai, the raven-haired boy launched them all at once at the separate targets. All of which hitting their marks with 3 hitting the bullseye. He followed up by quickly throwing 5 shuriken directly into the post with ease.

There were loud cheers from the boy's many fangirls as he walked back to the group with a smirk. Naruto gave the boy a small nod of acknowledgement that was returned before they continued to silently wait.

"Naruto Kaguya," Mizuki practically spat the last name out as Naruto stepped forward. Brandishing 5 kunai of his own, Naruto quickly released the first 3 from his left hand directly in front of the center target before throwing the other 2 with his right hand.

"Ha, he's gonna miss," the remark came from the Inuzuka clan heir, Kiba. Sasuke snorted and didn't even bother to turn to the boy.

"Just shut up and watch, moron," the Uchiha replied drawing everyone's attention. Unexpected to most of the other students, the kunai that were thrown with Naruto's right hand quickly caught up to the first 3 and collided with outermost 2 slightly. This changed the trajectory of all 4 of them and as a result, all 5 kunai hit their marks with a resounding thud.

"He-he actually hit every bullseye," came the stunned response of the Inuzuka with many others thinking the same thing. Sasuke just rolled his eyes and gave the boy a look that clearly said "duh" before watching 5 shuriken embed themselves in the post similarly to what he had done minutes ago.

Sasuke and Naruto shared a look for a moment before nodding to eachother once again. The Uchiha may have been a bit arrogant, but if there was one thing he respected it was talent; and the white-haired boy had it in spades. Most of the class was completely dumbfounded by the silent exchange.

Moving along to the one on one matches, Naruto decided to keep an eye on someone besides the Uchiha. A somewhat large civilian-born born stepped into the ring first with a smug smirk when he heard the name of his opponent. A small girl in a horrific orange outfit that Naruto could hardly even imagine wearing in his worst nightmares stepped into the ring. Her long, blonde pigtails swaying in the light breeze as she got into her stance. Naruto cringed slightly when he recognized it as one his so-called father had taught them long ago.

"This fight isn't even close to fair," Naruto stated in a bored voice. Sasuke nodded his agreement.

"No kidding, he's like twice her size. She's gonna get crushed." Another boy said earning a scoff from the Uchiha and Naruto.

"You're an idiot," Naruto started earning a glare from the boy. "Leave it to a civilian to think size determines strength. The one who's gonna get crushed is him." Several students looked at him like he was crazy while a few, such as the Aburame clan heir, Shino, nodded their agreement. The boy had no stance whatsoever and clearly thought his superior size gave him an advantage.

After Mizuki called out "Begin!" the boy was on his back before he could even blink. As he got back to his feet, he saw her smiling at him from a few feet to his left.

"You're dead!" he yelled as he charged at her and began throwing punches; all of which were dodged easily. After a particularly sloppy punch, the girl ducked down before delivering a heavy blow to the boy's kidney before sending him into the air with a palm thrust to the chin. Once he hit the ground, she stood over him with her foot on his neck prepared to crush his windpipe.

"Winner, Narumi Namikaze!" Mizuki announced. Most of the fights that followed were either completely predictable or just plain pathetic. Of course, Naruto still paid close attention to his rival's fight.

"Hiro Fujisawa versus Sasuke Uchiha." Hearing their names, the 2 participants stepped into the ring and squared off. As soon as he received the signal, Hiro ran at Sasuke as fast as he could. Sasuke lazily countered each of the frenzied strikes thrown at him with the Uchiha clan's interceptor fist style. This went on for some time until the other boy was panting heavily while Sasuke seemed perfectly fine.

"Oi, Uchiha. Didn't your mom ever teach you not to play with your food? Just finish it already," Naruto called out with a smirk receiving a matching smirk from Sasuke.

"If you insist, Kaguya," Sasuke replied dryly before appearing behind the other boy and delivering a harsh roundhouse kick to the back of his neck. Needless to say, the boy crumpled to the floor in an unconscious heap. Sasuke walked back to his spot as Mizuki announced him the winner and called out the final match.

"Try not to make it too quick, Kaguya. I need to at least get _some _entertainment." Naruto grinned as he watched an older boy step into the ring and take a stance. The boy looked like he was about 15 as opposed to the average 12 of the rest of the students. Analyzing his stance, it was obviously a mock-up of the academy style that focused on dealing heavy blows.

"Don't worry; I think I know just the thing to make this enjoyable." With that said, Naruto took his place in the ring and crossed his arms over his chest casually. Everyone watched closely as Mizuki gave the signal to start and the older boy ran towards Naruto, who didn't so much as blink at the fist approaching his face. The sound of a heavy impact resounded before, to the utter shock and disbelief of everyone there, Sasuke started laughing. Yes, _the _Sasuke Uchiha began laughing as everyone stared at him like it was a sign of the apocalypse. A pained scream broke them from their stupor as they turned back to the fight. As if just to add to their disbelief, the one screaming in pain was not the one who received the heavy blow, but the one that delivered it.

"Hahaha well played, Kaguya. Enjoyable indeed." Sasuke said as his laughter died down and everyone tried to figure out why the large teen was cradling his hand that seemed to be swelling up already. Dropping his injured hand to his side, the boy ran forward screaming and threw another heavy swing at Naruto's face. This time everyone watched closely as the young Kaguya didn't so much as budge from the contact and the larger boy once again howled in pain.

"Okay, what the hell is going on?" questioned the Yamanaka heiress, Ino, as everybody wondered the same thing.

"What's going on is that idiot will never be able to hurt Naruto, he's just gonna beat himself up." Sasuke answered cryptically with a smirk. There was a soft gasp as everyone looked over to see the Hyuuga heiress, Hinata, with a strange expression as she looked at the white-haired boy with her Byakugan active.

"W-w-what is that?" Hinata asked earning a soft chuckle from Sasuke. Sasuke's answer was one word; "shikotsumyaku". Everyone seemed confused while Shikamaru frowned slightly with a raised eyebrow.

"It's over; you're about to get your answers. Watch closely, Hyuuga." Sasuke said as he saw Naruto sigh with a bored expression as he removed his arms from his kimono and wrapped the sleeves around his waist to keep them from brushing the ground. Several girls blushed at his bared upper body while most only seemed to be more confused.

"Oi, why the hell is the freak stripping?!" Kiba yelled getting an annoyed glance from several people.

"Just shut up and watch, mutt." Before Kiba could retort to the insult, Naruto started bringing his right arm up to reach over his shoulder. Everyone was speechless, and some mildly disgusted, as they watched him pull a sword made of solid bone out of his shoulder.

"What the fuck is that?!" Once again, it was Kiba to voice his disbelief. Everyone watched as the wound where the bone was pulled from immediately closed and Naruto stood there holding the bone sword as if it was perfectly normal. Before anything else could be said, Naruto disappeared from the view of most of the observers before appearing behind his opponent with the incredibly sharp blade to his throat.

"Winner…Naruto Kaguya." Mizuki finally managed to say as the other boy collapsed to his knees with a warm liquid dripping down his legs. Naruto broke the calcium in the sword down to dust before pulling his kimono back on and walking away from the ring.

"You were true to your word. Watching a civilian piss his pants was definitely entertaining." Sasuke smirked as he and Naruto bumped fists.

"Okay, somebody please tell me how I ended up in this weird alternate dimension where the Uchiha laughs and the freak…is more of a freak. What the hell was that with the bones?!" Naruto stared at the Inuzuka heir for a long moment before giving his reply.

"It was a sword," he deadpanned earning sweatdrops from everyone. "As for your statement about alternate dimensions…you're an idiot," he continued earning a nod from Sasuke, as well as several others, and a snarl from Kiba.

"What the idiot means, is how did you do it?" Shikamaru asked with a sigh getting a glare from aforementioned idiot.

"I already told you, it was the shikotsumyaku." Sasuke intervened. Naruto gave a nod to confirm the answer. Sakura decided it was her turn to make her appearance as she gave an exasperated sigh.

"Ugh, what the hell is that? And since when are you all buddy-buddy with Sasuke-kun?!" the pinkette shrieked.

"The shikotsumyaku is my bloodline, the specifics of which are none of your business. As for my relationship with Sasuke..that too is none of your business, banshee." Naruto turned to leave after giving his explanation. The loud shriek from the banshee alerted him to her intentions as she ran up to his retreating form and punched him in the back of his head. 'She learned nothing from that fight,' Naruto mused with a shake of his head as Sakura howled in pain and he continued his way back into the academy along with Sasuke who was internally cheering for the injury to one of his fangirls.

The whole exchange was watched by a certain pig-tailed blonde who frowned slightly. 'Brother…'

* * *

The ninjutsu portion of the test was rather uneventful. All of the clan heirs passed as expected along with several civilian-born students; including the pink-haired howler monkey. After claiming their headbands, they were all instructed to return tomorrow for team assignments and their final rankings. With that said, Naruto and Sasuke were currently making their way toward the Uchiha compound when someone ran up to them and called out to Naruto in a way that made him flinch.

"Brother!" Narumi called as she caught up to the 2 boys and stopped to catch her breath. Sasuke nodded to his companion and continued his journey to his clan compound to give the siblings some privacy.

"How many times do I have to tell you not to call me that?" Naruto asked with a sigh. "What do you want, Narumi?" The girl pouted for a moment before smiling again and grabbing onto his arms.

"Oh, forget about that. Let's go have some ramen to celebrate graduating," Naruto seemed to be considering the idea for a moment until she continued talking. "We can go get father and-" she was interrupted by Naruto pulling his arms back forcefully and turning around.

"Not a chance. I'll spend time with that howler monkey Haruno before I voluntarily do anything with him. I'm sick of repeating myself so I'm only going to say this one last time," Naruto turned his head to the side to show his narrowed grey eyes. "That man gave up any right to call himself my father the moment he tossed a 4-year-old child out of his home."

"What about..us?" Narumi asked with a hopeful look as she bit her bottom lip. She could see the conflict in his eyes as he continued to stare at her before looking away with a sigh.

"I'm not sure," he whispered as he started walking away. Narumi's eyes dropped to the ground as tears threatened to fall before she just barely caught his last words. "But I don't hate you…sister." Narumi's face lit up like a Christmas tree as the tears finally broke free. But this time, they were filled with happiness. For the first time in 8 years, her brother called her sister.

"This calls for extra ramen to celebrate!" Narumi yelled as she took off running for her favorite ramen stand completely ignoring anything else as her smile remained on her face every step of the way.

'Somehow I get the feeling I'm going to regret saying that…' Naruto internally berated himself as he let out a heavy sigh.

* * *

That's it for now. The next chapter shall cover the relationship between Naruto and Sasuke and a few other events during the 7 years between the prologue and now. As always, thank you for reading and no flames please.


	3. Together Alone

To start off with, I'll address some reviews.

Someone had mentioned that the premise that Naruto would be hated for having a bloodline is stupid. While it's true that Konoha generally covets bloodlines, that does not apply to everybody in the village nor every bloodline. Even the Uchiha had a large amount of people who distrusted them for the sharingan after the Kyuubi attack; hence the attempted coup and resulting massacre. Another example of ostracized clans in Konoha would be the Kurama clan. You also have to take into consideration the fact that the shikotsumyaku was feared by even the Kaguya themselves.

As for the issue concerning Narumi not being hated as the Kyuubi jinchuuriki, keep in mind that Minato is alive in this story to reveal the truth of that night and make her out to be the hero Naruto was meant to be in canon.

Also, in regards to the review about the Minato bashing. It's kinda necessary to a certain degree given the circumstances; it won't be excessive though.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

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Chapter 3: Together Alone

[Flashback Start]

Sitting alone on the edge of a dock with his feet dangling over the edge, we find a certain white-haired seven-year-old gazing across the water with a blank expression on his face. So lost in his internal musings was he that he didn't hear the footsteps approaching him until they stopped right behind him.

"What are you doing here?" a young voice questioned drawing the white-haired boy's attention. Turning his head, he saw a boy his age with raven locks and onyx eyes staring at him. He could feel a sense of familiarity when he noticed the seemingly-dead emptiness in the other boy's eyes. He had thought he was the only one their age who could feel such emptiness and if he was honest with himself, he was happy to be proven wrong. To know that there was someone even remotely similar to himself filled him with a strange sense of relief.

"I was just thinking…" the white-haired boy finally answered as he turned back to stare blankly across the calm water again. The other boy continued to look at him for a moment before he too looked out to the water. The two remained in silent contemplation for several minutes before either said anything more.

"Naruto Kaguya," the white-haired boy broke the silence as he introduced himself without tearing his eyes away from the serene pool of liquid before them.

"Sasuke Uchiha," the other boy similarly introduced.

* * *

After their initial meeting, the two young clan heirs would occasionally meet. The first several weeks they did little more than spend time near that same lake they had first met eachother with the occasional spar tossed in to keep themselves sharp. As time went on, the two gradually seemed to warm up to eachother to the point where they started to have regular conversations and even play together like normal children on rare occasions.

For Naruto, he felt connected to Sasuke through their similar feelings of being without family; even if for very different reasons. They had a bond that normal children wouldn't be able to understand; one born of pain and suffering. They often times saw several of the clan children of the village happily playing together as their families watched over them with smiling faces.

"I'm not sure whether to envy their innocence, or pity them for it." Naruto calmly stated to his friend as they watched a blonde girl yelling at a boy with a strange, pineapple-like hairstyle while a fat boy watched in amusement as he munched on a bag of chips.

"Hn, it's not worth envying. That innocence is what makes them so weak." Sasuke responded earning a nod from Naruto.

Sasuke had been skeptical about getting close to his white-haired companion, initially thinking the boy was like everyone else. But after their first spar, Sasuke held a bit of respect for him. Naruto had beaten him and proven that he was not like the rest of the children Sasuke had met during their short time since beginning the academy. Ever since the two had met, they continued to push eachother to their limits with their friendly rivalry and had grown far stronger than Sasuke had been before. Like himself, Naruto was very driven by his goals and had no interest in the insignificant things the other children seemed to focus so hard on.

Eventually, Sasuke had invited Naruto to stay in the Uchiha compound with him. He claimed that it would benefit him to have more opportunities to train with his rival and keep tabs on his growth; he vehemently refused to admit he didn't want his friend to have to live on the street anymore.

When they were at the academy or within the village, the two would maintain a sense of indifference toward eachother; having agreed to keep their relationship and full abilities secret until they graduated; deception was a very powerful tool of a shinobi's arsenal and they intended to use it. As far as the others knew, Sasuke was a brooding elitist who hadn't awakened his bloodline and Naruto was an emotionless freak with no significant talent; the truth being vastly different of course.

Naruto was very adept at taijutsu along with having decent control of his bloodline. Sasuke also had unlocked his sharingan without anyone besides Naruto being any the wiser. Naruto was still superior in taijutsu, but Sasuke had proven that, even with only 2 tomoe unlocked so far, he was very adept at genjutsu.

They were fairly even in terms of their proficiency with ninjutsu, but Sasuke held the clear advantage considering he possessed the sharingan. Naruto however, had incredible reserves of chakra for someone his age. By the time they entered their third year of the academy, Naruto already had larger reserves than their 2 chuunin instructors…combined. Naruto exploited those chakra reserves heavily once he learned his new favorite jutsu; shadow clones. He actually learned the technique from Sasuke who had managed to copy it one day with his sharingan. Having average reserves, Sasuke found the technique too chakra-consuming for his liking and taught it to Naruto instead.

From that day forward, Sasuke and Naruto rarely attended classes, instead opting to have Naruto create 2 shadow clones and use the transformation technique to make a clone of Sasuke. The two had agreed that the subjects taught in the academy were incredibly insignificant in matters of becoming a shinobi and thus decided they had no reason to attend. Honestly, what was the point of learning history and theory instead of actually training?

[Flashback end]

* * *

"Before we start with team announcements, I'd like to congratulate you all again on becoming genin. I'm proud of all of you and I'm sure you'll all become splendid shinobi someday," Iruka addressed his students from the front of the room with a wide smile on his face. "Now then, I will read off the names of the teams you have each been placed into along with your senseis. Team 1 under-"

[Skipping past the pointless teams]

"Team 7 under Kakashi Hatake; Sasuke Uchiha, Naruto Kaguya-" there were several groans of disapproval from Sasuke's fangirls while the two friends turned teammates smirked at eachother, "and Sakura Haruno." Sasuke and Naruto's heads immediately collided with their desks while their pink-haired teammate gave a loud cheer and stuck her tongue out at the other girls.

"This has to be somebody's idea of a cruel joke," Naruto muttered earning a groan and a nod from Sasuke; he certainly didn't approve of their other teammate any more than Naruto did.

"Team 8 under Kurenai Yuuhi; Hinata Hyuuga, Kiba Inuzuka and Shino Aburame. Team 9 is currently still in rotation so moving along, team 10 under Asuma Sarutobi; Shikamaru Nara, Ino Yamanaka and Choji Akimichi." Ino groaned and mumbled under her breath about life not being fair and not ending up with **her** Sasuke.

"Team 11 under Anko Mitarashi; Narumi Namikaze, Ryohei Hyuuga and Izumi Inuzuka," Iruka announced the final team and informed them their senseis would be there shortly to pick them up. Sasuke raised an eyebrow when Naruto started laughing quietly to himself. Seeing the gesture, Naruto decided to enlighten his friend on what he found so humorous.

"These teams are ridiculous. Aside from us, every other team is comprised of civilian-born and clan-born children specifically. There's no point in even letting the civilians pass the exam if they're just gonna toss them together in ragtag groups that would just die on their first real mission. My guess is we only got stuck with her for the sake of balancing numbers," Naruto explained as he motioned to their teammate at the end of his explanation.

"Makes sense; we had the top scores so if they were gonna stick a civilian with anybody it makes the most sense to put her with us. She did at least have the highest scores of any of the civilian-born students so if any of them have a chance of being a real shinobi it's most likely her," Sasuke agreed with a nod, but groaned before continuing. "**If** we can snap her out of her little fangirl fantasy-world." Naruto suppressed his laughter with a snort of amusement as he agreed. If nothing else, they could just tell her to stay out of the way.

A short time later, jounins started showing up to retrieve their teams one-by-one until team 7 were the only ones left. Most of the jounins they had seen seemed normal enough…except for Anko Mitarashi. Those who were left in the room all sweatdropped when she had come bursting in through the window and pinned up a banner with kunai that said, "The sexy sensei of team 11, Anko Mitarashi." Naruto had felt a measure of pity for his sister then, but at least her sensei had showed up on time; whether it was in a rather odd fashion or not. Team 7 had been waiting for close to 2 hours already and there was still no sign of their sensei.

Sakura paced back-and-forth across the room while Sasuke's eye twitched occasionally to show his irritation with the situation. Naruto kept a bored expression as he stared at the door, but his slight body language showed he was not happy with being kept waiting for so long. Just when it seemed Sakura was about to start screaming her frustrations the door slid open.

Sasuke smirked in amusement when, as soon as their jounin sensei was revealed, a small projectile launched in his direction before a tear appeared in the mask covering the lower portion of his face. Sakura immediately spun around in confusion only to see a smirking Sasuke and Naruto with a single outstretched finger pointed in the direction of the masked jounin. The unspoken question was answered when a small bone began protruding from the outstretched finger before receding once again.

"…I don't like you," Kakashi finally said with an exaggerated frown earning a shrug from Naruto. "Trust me, you're not the only one. Besides, it's your own fault for being so late." Kakashi's face hardened for an instant before it was replaced with a sheepish expression.

"Putting that matter aside for now, meet me on the roof so we can have our first team meeting." With that said, Kakashi vanished in a puff of smoke as Naruto and Sasuke stood to leave, ignoring the somewhat awed look on Sakura's face.

* * *

"So, let's start with introductions. Why don't you all tell me a bit about yourselves," Kakashi said from behind his book as his potential students sat in front of him. Sasuke and Naruto just shrugged before Sakura raised her hand.

"Um, can you go first sensei?" Kakashi gave a shrug of his own before beginning his own introduction without taking his eyes from his book.

"My name is Kakashi Hatake; I have several things I like and a few dislikes. My hobbies are none of your business and my dreams for the future…I've never really thought about it." The 3 genin-hopefuls sweatdropped as Kakashi turned the page. "You're up, Pinkie." Ignoring the somewhat-derogatory nickname, Sakura did as instructed.

"My name is Sakura Haruno; my likes are..-blushes and looks At Sasuke-. My dislikes are Ino-pig and Naruto!" she said with a glare at aforementioned Kaguya. "And my dream is…" she trailed off as she looked at Sasuke with a blush again and giggled. Naruto rolled his eyes while Sasuke fought the urge to gag.

"You're up sir broods-a-lot." Kakashi said with a glance to the raven-haired boy. Sasuke huffed at the name while shooting a glare at a smirking Naruto.

"My name is Sasuke Uchiha; my likes are training and I suppose the white-haired idiot next to me isn't so bad," "You're too kind" Naruto commented dryly. Ignoring the comment, Sasuke continued his introduction. "I have a lot of dislikes and my dreams are none of your business." Kakashi finished with a slight glare at the cycloptic jounin.

'Hmm, I half expected him to say something about killing Itachi,' Kakashi internally mused as he turned to Naruto and motioned for him to follow suit.

"Naruto Kaguya; I like training and the broody prick next to me," Naruto said as he nudged Sasuke with his elbow and the two shared a smirk. Kakashi raised an eyebrow at the strange bond the two seemed to share, but other than that showed no particular interest. "I dislike pretty much everything else and don't really have any dreams, just goals."

"Now that that's out of the way, you're all free to go. We'll have our first meeting at training ground 33 at 7 a.m. where we'll do a bit of survival training." Kakashi said as he put his book away.

"Survival training? Didn't we do enough of that in the academy?" Sakura asked with a frown. Naruto and Sasuke shared a glance before looking at their masked sensei with a disapproving look.

"This is a bit different from what you did in the academy; this will determine if you truly have what it takes to be a shinobi or if you're just a group of brats playing ninja." Kakashi said with an uncharacteristically serious tone.

"But…aren't we already shinobi? We passed our genin exam already," Sakura asked with a confused expression. All three of them were somewhat alarmed when Kakashi suddenly started laughing as if that were the funniest joke he had ever heard.

"Bahaha, y-you..pfft..you seriously think answering a few questions and performing some E-rank jutsu makes you a shinobi?!" Kakashi asked between fits of laughter. "That test was just to sort out the trash from the ones that have the **potential** to be genin. Tomorrow will be your **real** test to see whether you deserve that headband or not."

Sakura looked pale at that, but Naruto and Sasuke seemed to brighten at the idea; they were in full agreement that if that test was all it took to be a ninja of Konoha then their village's standards were pathetic. It also showed them that, despite his quirks, Kakashi had a serious side to him and may prove to be more than he let on initially; they couldn't wait to get started.

* * *

"You noticed it too, right?" Naruto asked. After meeting their potential sensei, the two had decided to get something to eat before heading home and were now sitting across from eachother at their favorite dango bar, drinking tea after their meal.

"Yeah, that guy wasn't normal; even by jounin standards. Have you seen him before?" Sasuke responded as he set his tea down and frowned slightly when Naruto shook his head.

"No, but I've sensed his chakra plenty of times. He's former ANBU; and one of **his** personal guards at that." The venom in his voice was clear when Naruto indirectly mentioned his father.

"Do you think he chose him on purpose to keep an eye on you?" Naruto shrugged as he finished his tea and set the cup to the side.

"Whether he did or not, it makes no difference; we'll pass that test tomorrow and figure things out as we go. The only thing we need to worry about at this point is that damn banshee." They both frowned at the thought of their fangirl of a teammate before deciding it was time to go home and get some rest.

They had a test to pass in the morning after all.

* * *

"Why did we show up on time?" Naruto groaned as he continued to lay at the base of a tree at the training grounds where Kakashi had instructed them to meet. Sasuke merely grunted his agreement with a scowl on his face as he sat on a branch in the tree above Naruto with his legs swaying back and forth lazily. He was annoyed with the masked jounin's tardiness as well, but was more focused on the present annoyance; namely a certain pink-haired stalker who was staring at him from across the field.

"Can't you do something about her staring at me like that? It's seriously creeping me out," Sasuke asked in what Naruto would deem as Sasuke's version of a 'pleading' tone. The white-haired boy couldn't help smirking in amusement at his friend's plight.

"And risk her disturbing my peace with that screeching of hers? Not a chance," Sasuke glared at Naruto as he made a silent promise to get revenge for this at the first possible opportunity. "Besides, Cyclops is hiding in that tree over there." Naruto stated as he stood and dusted himself off.

"Well then," Sasuke said as he dropped from his perch in the tree to land next to his white-haired companion. "Shall we show him a little of what we can do?" he finished with a smirk, which was quickly mirrored by the one on Naruto's face.

"Just try not to show off too much; gotta keep **some** secrets." Naruto whispered as they made their way to the middle of the field. Sasuke just gave a mumbled "yeah yeah" in response before the masked jounin appeared before them in a puff of smoke.

"Yo," Kakashi greeted with a lazy wave before being assaulted with a loud cry of "YOU'RE LATE!" Naruto shook his head while Sasuke groaned at their loud-mouthed teammate.

"He wasn't late, Haruno; he's been watching us the entire time." Naruto said before Kakashi could make any excuses. Kakashi's visible eye widened slightly in surprise while Sakura scoffed.

"How the hell would you know that, moron?" she said with a superior tone.

"He knows because he's a sensor," Sasuke answered making the pinkette smile happily at being addressed by her crush. "And you should really watch your tongue, Haruno; he may not be book-smart, but he's a genius when it comes to combat and could kill you faster than you could draw a kunai." Sakura was gaping like a fish and looked like someone had just kicked her puppy; Naruto was having a hard time holding back his laughter.

"Well then," Kakashi interjected. "As enlightening as this has been, I believe it's time we got started." With that said, the masked jounin tied a pair of bells to his waist and pulled out a timer.

"Let the training begin."

* * *

A/N: I'm not too happy with how this chapter turned out, but it's been sitting here half-finished for months now and I don't really have the motivation to or time to put into it so I figured something is better than nothing. Anyway, thanks for reading.


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